The records of the Earth Discovery Team
by pay-your-hecking-taxes
Summary: Alien!Edith AU. During the last days of the Xaxion Planetary Discovery and Exploration Department, the dwindling fleet is doing what appears to be their last runs of exploration. When PDED-9 discovers a certain Golden Record, they decide to investigate this 'Earth'. Between survival and discovery, they learn that Earth is a tough place, one that might conquer them instead.


Note to readers: Zaylax -Edith. Claxia- Jennifer

Someone once said that space was a lot like the ocean, and that as an ocean dwelling species, Xaxions had a right to explore the depths of space. It was their given right, after all, having uncovered the hidden laws of the universe. They'd bent them to their will, conquered them and now they sailed through the cosmos. They sought out new worlds, places to settle down and expand. For the good of their people and their empire. The more planets colonized and thriving the more likely they would survive as a whole, no matter what happened, whether it be war, famine or disease. In a sense, they were becoming invincible by spreading themselves onto other planets.

This was what was drilled into their heads upon assignment to their respective ships. Zaylax had never been on her people's ancestral planet, nor had she ever been in an actual ocean. She had experienced water, what it was like to swim, but for most of her life, Zaylax had spent her years on numerous ships. She never stayed long enough to call any of them 'hers' in a sense, there were always assignments and duties to be done. Personal possessions were far and few between as frequent travel made it difficult to accrue things to call theirs on an individual level.

Zaylax had never taken much stock into the Empire's preachings, opting instead to keep her head down and do her job dutifully. Politics and the inner workings of their government had never been something she had been good at, nor interested in. Instead of the volatile and ever changing status quos that went on, Zaylax much preferred the generally established and stable principles of science and technology. Even change in those sectors tended to bring about more good news, more opportunity to reach even further than before. They were sometimes celebrated on a large scale among the Xaxion population. Change in politics, on the other hand, simply brought about a mix of grumbling and cheering, but above all, never ending chaos.

Thankfully for her, Xaxions were allowed to choose what role they wanted to fulfill to support the Empire. Zaylax had chosen Engineering in a heartbeat and subsequently been transferred to her own fair share of ships and expeditions. Currently, she was stationed on a ship for the Planetary Exploration and Discovery Department. They were a joint arm of the governmental science and non military security divisions, and were for the most part spared from military involvement.

The military had expanded rapidly as their empire grew, stretching among planets and, as of late, even star systems. The more spread apart their populous, the more important a strong military presence was. In order to keep the colonies in line, to quash rebellions, regulate laws and above all, to protect their people, the Xaxion Empire needed a sizable force.

As of late, the Planetary Exploration and Discovery Department had suffered cuts to both staff and funding. Officially, it was to spread resources to current outposts, that they would get their previous levels of support back to them once they were more stable and in need of more supplies, namely raw materials that their current outposts could no longer provide.

This was mostly true.

However, the Empire was not entirely truthful. No government really was. There were times when secrets were a necessity, and rumor was it that this was one of them. Zaylax only picked up bits and pieces in her daily routine, her checks and adjustments to the equipment were a welcome distraction to the going ons of her current ship, PED-9.

PED-9, was small, even by current standards. By normal standards, it should not have been allowed to fly independently. A normal ship held several members of varying scientific specialities and multiple security personnel, numbering as high as twenty. They had a crew of merely four Xaxions. Claxia, the newly appointed Captain of the ship, was far more invested in the rumors than Zaylax and her only other fellow scientific member of the crew, Klax.

"You fool, you don't even realize what's happening right behind closed doors. How can you not recognize a preemptive strike when you see one?" She cried out, dramatically. She flailed from her command post, cluttered with holo files and records.

"Any Xaxion worth their weight in Xeox can tell that they're pulling back for now. The Empire's resources are stretched too thin at the moment. They don't need more colonies when our current ones are undergoing stress." Zorx shot back, from his pilot's seat. Their voices echoed down from above, to the thankfully less noisy but more cluttered mechanical underbelly of the ship.

As their argument continued, Zaylax ran a check on the auxiliary engines, trying to drown out the long rehashed arguments and theories about what the High Consul was doing now a days. Unfortunately their current expedition in this section of space had been coming up rather empty in terms of habitable planets, or life forms. This many uneventful months in space tended to bring about stale gossip, conspiracy theories and generally just a long lasting unpleasantness.

"You don't think they're going to move onto other topics, anytime soon,do you?" Zaylax asked anxiously.

"If they did I'm not sure what they'd move onto. Inevitably their conversations devolve into this. Unless we come across some significant discovery, we'll be sent back to the main ship. Only a few more months until we can hear them argue about something else." Klax answered dully. He'd been assigned to be on the same crew as Zorx and Claxia before and he had assured her that this was how they normally gotten along.

"The Hjabish conflict in Praxia cannot be won without bloodshed, nor a sufficiently armed military. They're increasing production in arms and the refinement of materials-" Zorx was cut off suddenly, slamming on something and Zaylax hoped she wasn't going to have to repair it later. Zorx, tended to physically vent his frustration on whatever was nearby. More often than not this was some piece of the ship that either she or Klax would have to fix. On rare occasion they were both needed.

"-Which is why they're cutting back on our department. It won't be surprising if we get shut down all together. We're getting reassigned to a branch we've never had anything to do with until now." Claxia snapped. Zaylax could just see her leaning back in her seat, holding a glaring match with Zorx. Despite their arguments on the finer points of a wide range of topics, the two tended to work well together when push came to shove.

"You don't really think we'll be added into the war effort, do you?" Zaylax asked nervously, her data logs clutched to her chest.

"Even if we are- and I doubt we will, the two of us won't be on the front lines. If anything it'll be those two up there. They've got some kind of training experience, so they'll be fine. Probably. It's no suction cups off my arms what happens to them after we part ways, if we get reassigned. You act like it's your first assignment, we take our orders, bow our heads and say thank you before heading off. The same as it's always been. " Klax answered and that was that.

Perhaps her fellow engineer was right, that there was no point in worrying over what they couldn't control. They were little building blocks in a unit that was part of a bigger unit. One that was maybe not nearly as big or as significant as she'd thought it'd be. If the Empire needed them elsewhere they couldn't fight it.

It was simple, really.


End file.
